An email message promoted from my email archives to my blog on the last day the 2004 Red Sox were world champions (10/26/05).
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 14:23:26 -0400 To: John [deleted] From: "Erik J. Heels" Subject: Re: Cool List Digest Mon Oct 11 03:00:04 EDT 2004 Greetings, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are the worst. I sometimes wonder if they are even watching the game. I did read the article. Fascinating. I've had the sonsofsamhorn.com site bookmarked for some time but visit it rarely. I'll have to have a second look. I always thought that the "clutch" stats were undervalued. I mean, it only really matters how you perform in Sep and Oct, which is why I really like Manny in the clutch (where his stats are great). Todd Walker was the same type of clutch hitter - mistake to let him walk, I think. I always thought a stat was needed that calculated a player's impact on the game. For example, Nomar would let 3 unearned runs score, then hit a 3 run home run, which is a wash, same as not playing. Then there is managing. I have had few complaints with Francona all year. Contrast that with the Ron Gardenhire's mismanagement of game 4 of the Twins/Yankees ALDS. When A-Rod got on second (his second double in a row), I was screaming at the TV for the pitcher to throw to second base - just once. The previous time up, A-Rod had a HUGE lead at second (which the commentators pointed out, yet failed to point out the similarly large lead the next time). The Twins then acted surprised when he stole third (eventually to score the winning run on a wild pitch). Yes, I wanted the Yankees to win (so the Sox could beat them), but I wanted the Twins to take it to a game 5. In any event, the managing is much better this year. Should be a fun series! Regards, Erik At 10/12/04 02:05 PM, you wrote: >Oh....and - btw - Eric Van's and a couple of other analyses that I have >read of this upcoming series are pretty astounding. Given that the >Yankees basically only have righty pitchers (Heredia, their bullpen lefty >is just awful) - they should be destroyed by the Sox offense. > >Interesting analysis: >If you calculate the offensive stats of the Sox current 1-9 hitters >against righties - and then normalize that data to compare their combined >at-bats to the at-bats of Vlad Guerrero - the Sox offense 1-9 hits like 9 >Vlad Guererro's against righty pitching. Freaky. > >Meanwhile, the Yanks only have one real dangerous hitter against righties >in their lineup - Matsui. I fear that guy. > >If you look position by position: >Posada is better against righties than Varitek >Matsui is a little better against righties than Manny > >Every other position - including ARod and Mueller - is advantage to the >Sox. 7 out of 9 offensive positions! > >And our Defense and pitching are clearly better. > >They just need to play like they are capable and the rest should take care >of itself....